Threaded plastic closures have found widespread acceptance in the marketplace for use on bottles and like containers, including use for packaging of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages. Closures of this nature are formed from suitable polymeric materials by compression or injection molding, and can be configured to provide a tamper-evident or tamper-indicating function attendant to partial or complete removal from an associated container. A tamper-evident package includes a tamper-evident closure configured for cooperation with the associated container to provide the desired tamper-evidence.
Cost-effective use of tamper-evident closures and packaging is facilitated by the use of high-speed bottling and capping equipment, which is configured to effect high-speed application of closures to respective containers. As will be appreciated, cost-effective use is promoted by avoiding any misapplication of closures to containers as they are applied at high-speed.
Misapplication of closures can occur when a closure becomes “cocked” or otherwised misaligned with the container as the closure is rotatably applied and threaded onto the external threads of the container neck. Experience has shown that features of the tamper-evident portion of the closure can sometimes result in misapplication, such as can occur if a projection or like tamper-evident feature on the closure pilfer band engages the container threads, acting to pull the closure partially out of the application chuck, resulting in cocking of the closure. In some instances, the application equipment itself can create application defects, such as can occur if a bottle is slightly offset from the associated closure, or is slightly angled with respect to the closure.
The present invention is directed to a tamper-evident closure, and tamper-evident closure and container package, which facilitates high-speed application of closures to containers while avoiding undesirable misalignment, cocking, and other misapplication defects.